We left you last time with a weakened and divided Republic. In November 1938, the Republicans retreated back across the River Ebro having been outfought by the Nationalist’s superior forces in the Battle of the Ebro. The Republican’s threw all of their energies into that battle, but failed in their objectives.

This episode considers the aftermath of that battle, including the Nationalist advance on Catalonia, how the war ended, another internal civil war, and the bloody transformation that occurred in the years and decades after the war.

We left you last time in 1937 in a Spain that was increasingly reflecting the great divide that had occurred in Europe between right and left. On one side were the Nationalists, under the strong conservative leadership of General Franco. On the other, were the Republicans, with a Socialist Prime Minister, but increasing Communist influence.

The Nationalists had the upper hand in the first stages of the war, although the situation was starting to become more complex. The Republicans were trying to smash the Nationalist lines, while the Nationalists were trying to take the Republican’s territory in the east and north. This episode considers events as 1937 turned in to 1938, and ends by considering the greatest battle of the war.

Spain had divided to the point of no return and the right-wing Nationalists, led by the army, had given up on democracy and launched an uprising, against the government. The uprising was only partially successful, leaving Spain split in two not only politically, but also geographically. There was then a scramble to get the support of foreign powers, to put armies in the field and to organize shattered command structures.

This episode looks at the battles in the war as 1936 turned into 1937, as well as the civil war within the civil war. Madrid, Guernica, Republican infighting, and Nationalist consolidation are just a few of the areas we cover.

Spain’s true democratic experiment was tearing the country further and further apart. Traditionalist, conservative, Catholic Spain was increasingly at odds with urban, liberal, secular Spain. And in the fervent, charged atmosphere of 1930s Europe, both sides were increasingly viewing the other as an extremist enemy. Then in February 1936 an election was called.

This episode looks at that election and how its aftermath led to a very international civil war.

The Spanish Civil War is surely one of the most important civil wars of all time. It was a war that had ideological, social, class, religious, regional, and economic divides. It was a bloody war that saw brutal repression. And it was a war that had a major international element - it involved battles between democracy and dictatorship, Fascism and Communism, Germany and the USSR.

In short, the war was not only a battle for Spain’s soul, but a battle for Europe’s and the world’s soul. And I haven’t even mentioned how important it was for World War 2..